Source: Eurosport
Cook still confident of City progress
Manchester City chief executive Garry Cook is confident of attracting players to the club despite a lack of European football and views the failure as a blessing in disguise.[LNB] City's defeat at Tottenham means they cannot finish seventh in the Barclays Premier League and will not qualify for the revamped Europa League next season. With the money from their Abu Dhabi-based owners, Cook still feels the club will get the players manager Mark Hughes wants.[LNB] Cook said: "The club is building. The chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who was here (at White Hart Lane), and the owners, are committed to the long-term building of the club. We are relatively pleased with the year. It has given us a good chance to consolidate. The club is now on a firmer footing than it was 12 months ago and with that said, we will continue to build for next year."[LNB] He added: "I don't think necessarily getting into the Europa League is going to change the impact of whether we are going to build.[LNB] "That is not going to make a difference. In fact, in some ways it might give us the chance to get to the next piece of rebuilding. We have spent a lot of time this year rebuilding and restructuring and as we moved forward, it is all part of the building process. Our ambitions are higher than this, of course they are. Everyone's ambitions are bigger. [LNB] "You always want to reach for the highest possible achievement you can. But, at this moment, we have had a good year. [LNB] "The chairman loves his football. The owners love their football and they are quite pleased with this year. They are committed to what they set out to do. [LNB] "At the start of the year, they said we will build this thing slowly and we are looking forward to next year. Now we can begin the hard work which is the pre-season."[LNB] While Cook is looking for the positive side, goalkeeper Shay Given admits the players are disappointed not to finish seventh.[LNB] He said: "We're disappointed we can't qualify for Europe because that was the aim. We have been one of the best home teams in the Premier League this season, it's just our away form has let us down."
